


Tempests and Lighthouses

by Luckythirdshot



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Minor Character Death, Nightmares, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-22 18:33:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11385978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luckythirdshot/pseuds/Luckythirdshot
Summary: When Lance begins to face nightmares that push him to his wit's end, the team begins to help him as much as they can. (COMPLETE)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rona1776](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rona1776/gifts).



    

     It was the rain that he had missed the most. The rain that washed the Earth of the day, the rain that gave rise to the silty smells that made him feel at home. The rain that would wash the salt from his skin after a long, hot day at the beach, and the rain that gave him chills and made him feel whole and clean.

     He shivered as he felt the droplets dance across his face. He nodded to himself in affirmation, knowing that this was the part of his planet he missed the most. For the rain supplied life, gave the plants a new resolve after a long day of searing temperatures.

     Lance tilted his head back and smiled as memories engulfed him, crashing upon him like the waves of his home beach. Memories of tag in the rain with his older sisters, memories of his mother scolding him and worrying over his health after the siblings’ games. Memories of deluges, when he and his friends would duck into the oceanside shops and restaurants to continue their adventures. And most of all, memories of sitting on the porch swing with a cool drink and just listening to the rain fall, reveling in the cathartic pitter-patter of raindrops.

     However, when Lance looked up, it was not the rain or the clouds blanketing the sky that he would usually be enamoured with that caught his attention; it was a long purple streak falling through the sky. It was the antithesis of rain, the harbinger of death and suffering. It was all too familiar to Lance, as was the emotion associated with it- a tendril of pure fear curling around his heart and constricting it. He wondered what abomination the Galra had managed to invent this time, and how they would beat it.

     His heart sank when he realized that all he was wearing was his t-shirt and jeans, and that Blue was nowhere in sight.

     How would he protect his family now?

-

     Lance’s eyes flew open, barely registering that he had just woken from a dream. A nightmare, by all rights. Instead, he lay staring at the ceiling, paralyzed with fear. His face was wet with tears instead of rain, painfully salty on his cracked lips. He felt the lingering aftershocks of the nightmare wrack his body, still terrified of what would become of his body, still terrified of the impending pain that a Galra monster would bring.

     After a moment, he desperately sucked in air, feeling sobs reverberate through his body, his shoulders heaving, and the taste of bile in his mouth. He nearly wished that the dream would have ended with certainty so that he could reassure himself of the opposite, but instead he felt the effects of a nightmare half-finished, one that he knew he would remember for some time to come. The weight of his fear pressed him down into his bed, but after a moment, the terror constricting his heart won the conflict, and Lance curled into a ball, clutching at his chest. He felt a sharp pain, one that pushed one thought into the front of his mind: Home. He longed for his home with a ferocity that was unimaginable, one that hurt more than any wound he had ever received.

     When Lance was finally able to move voluntarily, only afflicted with the dull pangs of reminders from his nightmares and bittersweet memories and longings for home, he glanced at the clock. It declared that the time was three-thirty in the morning, and Lance closed his eyes, shielding them from the light coming from the clock and from the mess and chaos that reflected his life. He felt trapped, suffocated, and he slowly swung himself out of his bed, refusing to break the silence that sat like a burden on his chest. He silently padded into the long, dark hallway, suddenly thankful for the dim lights shining on the floor. He didn’t know where he was going, simply that the thought of going back to sleep terrified him.

     When he found himself in an achingly similar hallway, in front of a painfully familiar door, Lance took a deep breath. It had been months since Sendak had destroyed the crystal in the Castle of Lions, but the constellation of miniscule, nearly undetectable scars made by the crystalline shrapnel still burned across his back. He trembled slightly, then palmed open the door. Darkness greeted him, and he fumbled with shuddering fingers to find the panel that would signal the lights. When he finally found it, the light blinded him momentarily; but afterwards, he found himself staring at the room that felt much too eerie. It seemed to have been restored to its former appearance, as if none of the events that conspired had ever taken place. Lance slowly shuffled around with dull curiosity, trying to find even a single mark or dent from the crystal. Lance did not find a single blemish, and he tried to shake off the feeling that somehow that made him feel even more isolated. Instead, he wandered over to the console that initiated the universal star map, allowing the holograms to flood the room.

     And yet, when he looked at the map, he saw millions of pulsing red lights- captured Galra territories, kept as accurate as possible. Lance put his hand up and hesitantly scrolled to the right, trying to locate Earth. But without Coran and his expansive knowledge of the universe, there was no way to be able to do so. With a sigh, Lance abandoned his mission, opting to look at some of the seemingly random planets that he could find. With a soft motion, he bought up the information for the planet before he remembered that all of it was in Altean. Disappointed, Lance dropped his hand back to his side. Most of all, he wanted to be able to find Earth and to observe the Galra advances, to reassure himself of the distance between the terrible empire and his family.

     Lance took a deep breath, trying to bite back the fear that was rising in his throat once more. He opted to walk about the ship again, meandering his way around to the training room. He should not have been surprised to hear signs of activity; Shiro was known to walk the halls or train late at night due to his penchant for violent nightmares.

     He decided to enter the room anyways, hoping that some form of company would drive back the heavy silence that bowed his shoulders. He palmed the control panel and entered.

     The scene that greeted him was not the scene that he had expected. Instead of their calm, logical leader, Keith’s gangly, tall form engaged and disengaged with the Altean combat simulator. His grace and the flow in the battle reminded Lance more of a dance than a deadly fight, and he followed, enamoured by the beauty of it.

     It was not until Keith’s blade found itself mere centimeters from the simulator’s neck did the boy notice Lance’s presence. He swung the blade down to his side, then barked, “Simulation off!” As ordered, the bot disappeared, leaving the two alone on the floor.

     “What are you doing up this late? Some beauty routine or something?” Keith engaged, cocking a brow. Lance said nothing and Keith looked away, obviously wondering if his abrasiveness had perhaps been too harsh. Lance just gave a sigh. Keith cast his gaze down, then strode to the wall and sat on the floor, looking at Lance expectantly. Lance followed suit, sliding down the wall slowly until he came to a stop on the floor. A moment of silence passed between the two before Keith began speaking.

     “So they finally caught up to you too.” He said softly. There was a tone of sorrow in his voice that Lance had not expected, one that told him more than words could convey.

     “Yeah.” Lance sighed once more, remembering the approaching Galra ship, and the visceral terror that had clawed at him. He shivered slightly before pulling his arms over himself, trying to remind himself to relax his tense muscles. Keith observed him for a moment, then looked at his dagger.

     “Training helps sometimes. I remember that I’m not helpless.” Keith said quietly, running his thumb over the grooves and curves of the weapon. Lance wondered absentmindedly if possibly Keith felt as though his mother were fighting beside him when he held the weapon, nearly jealous for a moment. Keith still had some sort of connection. He felt a sharp pang of jealousy, but shook his head minutely, knowing that his divergent thoughts were ugly and had no reason behind them. Perhaps his exhaustion was beginning to addle his mind.

     “I’m not very good at fighting, nothing like you. I’ve tried.” He thought back to his multiple failures, how his frustration had overwhelmed him when the team would train together. His inability to fight made him feel just as helpless as the nightmare had.

     “Well…. It’s not exactly something you can avoid when you’re fighting aliens,” Keith said. He looked over at Lance and added, “Maybe you just need a teacher and some practice.”

     “And who would do that?” Scoffed Lance.

     “Well, I would.” Lance sat in silence after the statement, shocked. Lance was useless in a fight, and all the little tips and such that he had been taught did not ever seem to stick with him in a fight.

     “I mean, there’s not really much else to do in a castle in the middle of space at the dead of night,” Keith said, humor sneaking into his words. Lance chuckled softly, then nodded. Keith couldn’t possibly hold him to a promise he had made at four in the morning, he reassured himself, if he found it to be unhelpful or harmful.

     “Maybe I should. It’s not like I can always avoid close fights,” Lance said. Keith nodded seriously, then stood up and offered Lance a hand.

     “No time like now,” Hs said as Lance took Keith’s hand and hopped up. After a few minutes of warming up, they both walked over to the rack of training weapons, and Keith evaluated it for a moment.

     “Hm. Right now you have something that serves well enough as a long ranged weapon while also serving as a mid-ranged weapon. You probably don’t know anything about knives, do you?” Lance shook his head and Keith nodded once more in confirmation. “So probably something that requires little training, at least for now… And something that really doesn’t offer much kick, too. Something you can fire multiple times without too much fatigue, because you’ll be better off if you face a lot of them at close range….” He picked a few up, seemed to judge their weight, frowned, then set them all back down. Instead he favoured a small, unrecognizable weapon. “Range on” He yelled, as a holographic shooting range appeared. Keith trode over to the center, widened his stance a bit, peered down the sights, and shot a few times. Seeming to be satisfied, he beckoned Lance over.

     “I think that this is an Altean weapon. It’s a bit like those Galra guns, but much less bulky and can fire at a much more rapid rate. It doesn’t offer much kick at all, and it shoots an electrical beam. It can also be set to simply incapacitate, though I don’t think those shots would necessarily work against armour; you’d have to find a spot of skin not near the head.” Lance nodded, watching Keith closely and trying to memorize how Keith held the gun. He held it at arm’s length, one hand under the handle, one around. Keith fired it a few more times, pausing to explain to Lance how to properly aim it. After a few minutes, Keith handed the weapon over to Lance, who took it uncertainly. It was lighter than he had expected, and he felt the slight texture to the handle against his skin. He hesitated for a moment, then raised the weapon.

     “Breathe in, Breathe out. Concentrate.”

     Lance did as instructed, trying to stare down the sights. After a moment, he fired off a few shots.

     “Alright, not too incredibly bad for your first go at it,” Keith said, and Lance could hear a bit of a smile in his voice. Lance nodded, suddenly feeling the weight of his sleepless night crashing upon him. He felt slightly ill, and he sat down to try to combat it.

     “Are you okay?” Keith said, suddenly hovering over Lance, his concern obvious. Lance nodded. “If I stay up too late, I start feeling sick. It’s fine.” Lance offered a weak smile up to Keith, who sighed in turn.

     “It’s about time we both turn in anyways. Can’t fight well without enough sleep,” Keith said, taking Lance’s Altean pistol and reshelving it. When he returned, he offered Lance a hand once more, pulling the other boy up slowly, releasing Lance once he was upright. He gravitated closely to Lance’s side,  and Lance could tell that Keith was worried about Lance falling over or something of the fashion.

     “It’s not that bad, Keith.” Lance said quietly. Keith halted for a moment and nodded in acknowledgement.

     “Shiro used to be a bit like this,” Keith said, slowly and slightly cautiously. “When he was in the Garrison. He did it anyways, to study.”

     Lance stopped in shock, eyes going wide at the realization that Keith was disclosing his past. He had never thought that Keith would open up to anyone, let alone _Lance._

     “It’s how he got to the top of his class, and how he became the pilot of the Kerberos mission. He was the best of the best, and he wouldn’t let anything prevent him from reaching his goals, let alone a sleepless night.” A tint of sorrow mingled with the fondness in his voice, and Keith bowed his head slightly. Lance remained silent. “He always yelled at me for doing it, though. Said I was good enough without it.”

     “Well,” Lance started slowly, “He wasn’t exactly wrong. You were top of our class.”

     “Shiro always joked about being jealous about that. About how I was a natural.” Keith chuckled slightly, and Lance smiled at him. It was odd to see Keith reminisce, but it was nice; he looked genuinely happy, even amidst all that seemed wrong at the moment.

     “We were neck-in neck rivals,” Lance joked, and Keith laughed earnestly. The boys walked silently for a while, but it was not the heavy, permeating silence that had plagued Lance previously; it was light and easy, not awkward in the least. It was completely unexpected of the two, but perhaps lack of sleep and the rush of fond memories drew the two closer.

     “I miss it sometimes,” Keith said, quietly but abruptly. “He took me in when nobody else would. He’s the one person who tried to stay. He was like the ideal big brother, and he always picked me up when I fell.”

     “Isn’t he still?” Lance asked hesitantly, his footsteps faltering somewhat as he said it. Keith nodded.

     “Yeah. But there’s something about him now that’s…. Worn? Tired? I don’t know…” He stared willfully at the floor and stopped walking, then shook his head, trembling slightly. “I don’t know what the Galra did to him, but it’s like they eroded away all his optimism and happiness.” He said it angrily, his hands clenched into fists. His form was rigid and tense, as if he were engaging in a fight at the very moment. Lance felt a rush of sadness, seeing Keith’s reaction. If any of his siblings had gotten injured, he didn’t know what he would do with himself.

     Unbidden, images of a galra ship plummeting to the Earth’s surface rose in Lance’s mind, and he shivered. He wrapped his arms around himself, starting to feel ill again, both from his sleeplessness and from recollection of his nightmare. Keith must have seen from his peripherals, because he mumbled an apology and began to relax.

     They remained silent for a while, right up until Lance found himself at his doorway.

     “Get some rest,” Keith said, moments before slipping away down the hall. Lance didn’t even get the time to answer, though if he had, he wouldn’t have known what to say anyways.

     Lance opened his door and padded in silently, taking in the chaos and unruliness of his room. He was much too tired to do anything about it at the moment; he would have to find time later, he thought as he slid into bed and fell asleep.

\--

     When Lance opened his eyes in the morning, he felt the impact of his midnight escapades. It seemed to be much harder to get up out of bed in a timely manner, and the prospect of facing any challenge that had any difficulty made him want to fall back over into the bed and drag the blanket back over his head. But there was a part of his mind that was still on-edge from the impending Galra attack, and the very idea of sitting still gnawed at Lance, forcing him to move. He was still sluggish, however; he was too tired to do much of anything.

     A knock sounded against his door right after he got out of bed, and Lance knew that it was Shiro, making sure that he wouldn’t miss morning warm-ups. Lance was notorious for over-sleeping (a reputation he shared with Pidge) and thus, whenever he was late, Shiro would appear.

     “I’m up, I swear,” Lance called through the door.

     “Alright. Try to get to the training room as quickly as you can,” Shiro called through the door. After Shiro said what he had come to say, Lance could hear his footsteps retreating down the hall. Lance sighed and slowly began to don his paladin armour, one piece at a time. It took a total of ten minutes to be out of his room and on his way to his training.

     Lance ambled into the room and joined the Paladins that were standing in a circle around Coran, who seemed to be explaining something to them.

     “Ah, Lance! Good morning!” Coran chirped, before turning his attention back to what he was explaining. From what Lance could gather, Coran was going to teach them hand-to-hand combat.

     “Shiro, I would like you to pair with Lance. Keith with Hunk, and Pidge with Allura. I’ll show you come basics today, and we’ll go from there!” Coran said cheerfully. They separated into their pairs, but before Lance could reach his spot, Lance felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw a very concerned Shiro reaching out to him.

     “You look a little worn down, Lance. Is everything okay? Are you sick?” Shiro said, and Lance smiled at him, shocked that the man had seemed to notice.

     “Nah, I just didn’t get enough sleep. I’ll be fine,” Lance said, and Shiro let his hand drop off of his shoulder.

     “Alright. If you need something, don’t hesitate to ask,” Shiro said, moving forward again. Lance smiled at Shiro, a little shocked by the fact that he had noticed. But the gesture had been caring, and Lance couldn’t help but smile, feeling loved like that. He took his position opposite of Shiro, carefully adopting the pose that Coran was showing them.

     As training went on, Shiro began to talk to him more and more (though in quieter tones so as not to interrupt anyone else’s training.)

     “Is there anything we should be concerned about that is keeping you up at night?” Shiro said, still a hint of concern in his tone.

     “It’s okay, Shiro. It was a bit of a bad dream. Nothing too big,” Lance replied. He knew that Shiro could be spotted somewhere in the castle most nights, pacing about or checking to make sure that the other paladins were still asleep. Lance knew that Shiro trained in his room sometimes in the wee hours of the morning. He didn’t know how the man functioned so well with so little sleep when Lance himself was already feeling so run down after one sleepless night.

     “Lance, you know that you can always come find me if you need to talk, right buddy?” Lance nodded, and Shiro gave him a smile.

     Of course, Shiro knew that there was not much else to be done about nightmares; there was no magical Altean cure, no super scientific space solution that could block the nightmares. All they could do was comfort each other, night after night, as different fears haunted them in their sleep.

     The rest of training was filled with a flurry of lessons, each wearing Lance down more and more. By the time training was done, he felt about ready to curl up on the couch and try to sleep a little. Instead, the alarm started blaring-a daily occurance, though they were lucky if it was only once a day- and Lance raced to his Lion, hoping that it was some small problem.

     As they launched, Allura told them all that it was a squadron of patrol ships that had called for backup, and Lance knew that he was facing a very long, very tiring day.


	2. Chapter 2

     There was no use in fighting. There was nothing left to fight with. No bayard, no blue, no Voltron. He was as powerless as a child, with the immense dread strangling his heart to match. He raced towards town anyways; Though he had nothing to fight back with, he had to think of  _ something.  _

     The sounds were the first thing to hit him. The raw screaming and the thunder of feet met the chorus of crying. Helplessness hung heavily in the air, wrapping its tendrils of creeping fear around the innocent inhabitants, as if it were competing with the coming threat to capture more helpless lives than the other. Through the haze of terror, he wondered if it might claim him as well. Nevertheless, he pressed onwards, refusing to acknowledge the weight that pressed against him, trying to force him to the ground. 

     Hopelessness was not an option. Not with his family’s life on the line, not with his planet being attacked. The Galra no doubt had intent to kill or enslave the planet, and they had the upper hand concerning weaponry. There was little to no chance of Lance actually winning, but he wasn’t going down without a fight.

     Every step was a fight against gravity, but Lance was determined; his pace quickened, and he worked his hardest to control his irregular breathing. 

     Before long, there was nothing to be left to the imagination; the scene that lay before Lance was horrifying, worse than he could have ever guessed. The wonderful, colorful buildings that hugged the streets were either decimated or engulfed by flame, people struggling or fleeing from the Galra, and when he saw glimpses of the beach, the tide washed in pink with blood and the sand soaked with maroon. What he saw was a mere shell of the home he held so dear. It felt like the air around him had been cruelly snatched from his lungs- he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stand up any more, couldn’t even think. His scream mingled with those of the terrified people, his tears nearly unnoticeable. 

     He only realized seconds later that he had screamed for Blue, and that he had gotten no response.

\--

     Lance struggled to breathe for a moment after he woke up. The thought filled his mind that he had nothing left, that the Galra had taken everything from him, and instead of anger, Lance felt distraught. He bolted upright, his hands desperately seeking a weapon of any sort.  After a moment, he started waking up a bit more, and he hesitantly stopped searching, though he wondered if he could feel even marginally better with a weapon in hand. 

_      So _ , he thought.  _ This is how it’s going to be. _ He felt sluggish and tired beyond compare; this was the second night in a row now. The nightmare just kept getting worse. He glanced over at the clock sitting on his shelf and he discovered that he had gotten two hours of sleep. 

     Lance didn’t cry like he had the first night. He was too afraid for it. The screams that he had heard bit into his hears with razor-sharp teeth, and all Lance could see was the mass of fleeing people, their only goal to get away as quickly as possible, though some would end up left behind, ripe for the picking of the Galra….

     Lance couldn’t stay in his room anymore; he felt imprisoned, terrified of being targeted, like a wild animal. He bolted out of his door, nerves frayed and chest heaving. He ran to the one place he knew he could find some semblance of life at three in the morning: the training deck.

     And as sure as could be, Lance could hear sounds of combat ring through the door, even before he stumbled in. He heard Keith disengage with the training bot and command it to cease its functions, and he heard Keith turn to face him.

     “Lance?”

     Lance leaned against the doorframe, unsure of what to say.

     “Lance, are you okay?” 

     Lance made a choked sound, full of panic and fear, and Keith stumbled back for a split second before surging forward to try to help ease Lance to the floor. Lance could feel the tremble in Keith’s fingers as he helped Lance to the floor softly, and the rational part of him, the part that was tucked away in a corner of his mind, wondered why it was now, in the absence of danger, that his fingers shook so much.

     “Lance? Lance, I need you to breathe, okay? Deep breaths.” Keith counted, and Lance blindly followed what Keith said, and after a while, Lance was not as panicked as he had been. Somewhere deep and tucked away, it lurked, striking in hitching breath and quickening heartbeats, but Lance ignored it for the moment, wishing that he could just willfully forget it and make it disappear.

     Keith hung his head low for a moment, and exhaled sharply. “Holy shit, Lance. You terrified me just then.”

     Lance once more remained silent.

     Keith turned and looked him in the eye, concern clear in his face. “What was all of that about?”

     Lance shook his head, trying to keep the images from flooding his mind once more. From reminding him how viscerally real it all felt, and how terrified he had been.

     “Lance… I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on,” Keith said gently. 

     “I… I don’t even know where to begin,” Lance said, so quietly that Keith almost couldn’t hear. He put his hand on Lance’s shoulder and moved his thumb in a circular pattern.

     “It was…. It was the Galra,” Lance said, and tears flooded his eyes. “They were….”

     Lance couldn’t continue, but Keith had a feeling that he knew exactly what Lance meant. He understood, too, in a way. He had struggled with nightmares about the Galra.

     “I know,” Keith said softly. “I’ve had something like that too.”

     At that, Lance burst into tears, folding in on himself, and Keith felt his heart crumble. No matter how many times he had seen his fellow paladins break down, it was always heartbreaking to see them in such pain. Keith simply moved closer and put his arm protectively around Lance, knowing that the best option was to let Lance cry.

     What must have been an hour later, Lance had quietened, and Keith was quietly running his fingers through Lance’s hair. Keith noticed that Lance was beginning to doze off, and as much as he hated the idea of moving the exhausted boy, he knew that both of them needed to get some semblance of sleep before the next day. He softly shook Lance’s shoulder twice before the boy awoke with a jump.

     “It’s just me, Keith. You need to go to bed, Lance.” Lance hummed sleepily in reply, and Keith pulled him up and steadied him against the doorframe before moving them both towards Lance’s room. Lance was still not fully awake; he was unsteady and slow, but Keith was patient. It was not long before they reached Lance’s door, and Keith was carefully picking his way through Lance’s messy room, trying not to break anything of Lance’s. He made sure that Lance was fully on his bed and comfortably situated before leaving for his own room.

\--

     Lance awoke with a headache and to a knock on his door. He contemplated not answering it, but the knock came more insistent mere moments later. He didn’t want to leave his bed, and he felt another restless night come crashing down upon him. He felt like he was sick, but he knew he wasn’t; it was what became of Lance not getting enough sleep. He got up slowly and with a groan, wishing he was light years away and not facing the responsibility of piloting at the moment. 

     “Lance, buddy, you in there?” Shiro called, slightly muffled by the door.

     “Yeah.”

     “Are you feeling bad?” 

     “No, I’ll be fine, give me a minute,” he said, stubbornly. He wasn’t about to let his sleeplessness burden the team, not when it had only been two nights and he could still technically be useful. He took a moment to steel himself for the day, knowing that it would be just as exhausting as the others. Then he put on his armour and walked out of his room slowly, walking towards the dining hall.

     Shiro was pacing outside the door, stopping Lance before he could enter. 

     “You don’t have to push yourself like this, Lance. If you don’t feel good, you need to rest.”

     “I feel good enough to help,” Lance said stubbornly. “We’re fighting a ten thousand year old empire with limited allies, in a machine that needs all of us in order to function. I’m not so bad off right now that I need to abandon you guys.”

     Shiro pulled Lance into a tight hug. “Lance, you have to take care of yourself.” He pulled back a moment later to look Lance in the eye. “Most of what we’re dealing with right now is patrol ships and the stray battle cruiser. Voltron just makes all of it easier. It would make me more comfortable if I didn’t have to worry about you in a battle you shouldn’t be in. You have to trust us to be able to fight for ourselves, too. Besides, you’re not abandoning us; I’m just telling you to get some rest.”

     Lance deflated slightly. “But I want to be with you guys in case you need me. We work as a team. I don’t want to be doing nothing here while you guys need me.”

     Shiro sighed. “Lance, I know that it’s hard not to fight when there’s something to fight for. But you need your rest, and I don’t think I could forgive myself if you went out into a battlefield right now and got yourself injured because I didn’t stop you. If we need Voltron, you and the Blue Lion could be deployed in an instant. If we do need Voltron today, I’ll be sure to have Allura tell you. But most of what we’re dealing with doesn’t require all five lions. Let us cover for you today. You would do it in a heartbeat for one of us.”

     Lance hesitated, then sighed, and Shiro knew that he had won. He pulled Lance into a hug once more. 

     “I promise that it will be alright,” Shiro said, then let Lance go so he could walk into the dining room for some breakfast.

     Lance sat between Lance and Hunk, knowing that the seat had been left open intentionally. Hunk shot him a worried look, though he remained silent. He looked over at Keith, and Lance assumed that Keith had told him that Lance hadn’t been sleeping. Lance gave him a reassuring smile, and the tension that Lance could see in his friend’s shoulders began to melt away. 

     Meanwhile, Shiro was having a very hushed conversation with Allura and Coran, no doubt about Lance taking a day to rest. Neith seemed to argue; Though Lance could not hear what was being said, he knew that Shiro had the type of tone that meant business. The type of tone his mother would take when he or his siblings would misbehave. 

     They ate in relative silence, not having much to discuss, and before long, breakfast was dismissed. It was a quiet day, it seemed. Hunk gave Lance a long hug and the promise to come if needed before pacing after Pidge and Coran, all of whom seemed to be working on some of the castle, while Shiro and Allura moved to the bridge to discuss what team Voltron would be doing next. Keith stayed behind, silently sitting in his seat.

     “You should go lay down,” he said, none of the usual bite in his voice. Lance blinked a bit, wondering if he had actually heard the edge of protectiveness in his voice or if he was hearing things now.

     Lance thought about going to his room, but he realized that that was the last place he wanted to be at the moment. It was too quiet, too far removed from all the other people on the ship. If he didn’t have something to pay attention to, somebody to talk to, he knew that he would think himself into a very dark corner, one that he did not have the energy to pull himself out of. Keith looked up at Lance, eyed full of curiosity. 

     Lance stammered for a second, then fell silent. He didn’t know how to put his emotions into words that would not make him look like an idiot. 

     “It’s… Too quiet,” He said after a moment. It was the truth, if only just part of it, but it seemed to make complete sense to Keith, who stood up and walked closer to Lance. 

     “If you want me to, I can go with you to the rec room. The couches are nice, and if I hook up one of Pidge’s data pads, we can watch something.” Lance nodded, a small grin on his face; he had forgotten that those even worked, that the castle had projectors of some kind in the room. Even if he had known, watching them alone was only a step above lying in his room alone. Keith, usually not one for chatter, tried to strike up a conversation with Lance as they walked the halls. It was small talk, and though it was certainly awkward for both parties, Lance appreciated the gesture greatly. It was a relief to both of them when they arrived in the rec room. Keith insisted, in his stubbornness, that Lance sit while he struggled to hook up one of the data pads that Pidge had left lying around. It wasn’t long until Keith dimmed the lights and sat beside Lance, reading out titles to Lance to see what he wanted to watch.

     Finally, Lance settled on one of the Star Wars movies. One of his little brothers had loved the series dearly, and Lance remembered spending late nights watching them with him. Having someone with Lance almost made it all feel like he was ten again, building pillow forts around the television, not fighting a war. Before long, Lance was starting to feel the effects of the dimmed lights and the repeated familiarity of the movie, and he curled up slowly on the couch. When he looked up, he caught Keith looking at him, a small smile playing on his lips, obviously paying more attention to Lance than the movie.

     “Alright, Han Solo, don’t get any ideas,” Lance said, joking sleepily. Keith’s face turned beet-red and Lance laughed. “I guess Allura is going to have to fight me for the title of rebel space princess. And Pidge is going to have to build me an R2-D2, because no space princess can go anywhere without a kickass robot,” Lance said with a laugh. After a moment, Keith began to laugh too. 

     “You get a little off when you’re tired,” Keith said in between laughing. Lance grinned at him. 

     “Come on, I’m always saying cool stuff like that. Gotta keep all you serious paladins of the universe on your toes,” Lance said, shifting slightly before feeling his eyelids droop. Falling asleep to the sound of Keith’s laugh was pleasant, like living a wonderful dream. No nightmares would haunt his rest when he could fight them off with such a wonderful sensation.


	3. Chapter 3

     To Lance, the sky had come crashing down and the Earth had been crushed by its debris. The world had died. When once before he heard the screams and thunderous stomping, now all he heard was quiet sobs and the clanking of Galra bots. Lance was dazed, shocked, and afraid. He remembered standing in that very spot, watching the sun set, not that long ago. Watching how it shimmered off of the wonderfully blue water. How the night had settled like a shroud, and watching the stars appear one by one. The horizon had disappeared and the ocean mingled with space, becoming an amazing reflective pool. Sometimes, Lance had stayed until after dark, waist deep in the water, feeling as if he were already among the stars. 

     But now, the sand was clumped and stained a deep and startling maroon, and the water ran pink. The waves has reached a tempest, and Lance thought numbly that they had done so in their grief, unable to protect its people, unable to carry away the invaders.  He understood it all too well. 

     Lance looked to the sky, which was dark with smoke, dotted with ashes instead of stars. He walked forward slowly, not quite knowing what else he even could do. At the very least, he could look for a weapon in the crumbled buildings. 

     But he wasn’t Shiro. He couldn’t avoid them for long. He realized his mistake too late, right after he heard the rattling metal steps mere feet from him. They had not spotted him yet, but he knew he only had seconds before he was found, and there was nowhere to hide.

     He wasn’t surprised when he was wrenched off of the ground, but he was afraid. It was the type of fear that blinded a person, that made him twist and shout, but it was a lost cause. Lance gave up shortly after. 

     Until he heard a Galra behind him. His mind processed too many things at once, in too short a time frame- from the searing pain in his back that matched the flecked scars on his back to the fact that this couldn’t be, he had died. He was in space in a capsule, he couldn’t have survived that, and lastly… the feeling that it was inevitable that Lance was going to feel more pain in this encounter than the last.

_      Sendak. _

     “I see we’ve caught ourselves a little rat,” Sendak said, and even before Lance could see his face, he could hear the sneer in his voice. He slowly circled Lance, as if appraising his value. “And what’s better, there is no rescue for you. No little fairytale ending.” Lance shuddered, mostly from Sendak’s proximity, but the words had confirmed his fears; nobody could rescue him, and there was nothing he could do either. He was helpless, and the Galra had won. He tried for one last, desperate call to Blue, as loudly as he could. 

    There was nothing. No answer. The last of Lance’s hopes crumbled with the city he had loved so dearly, and he stopped fighting, stopped struggling, and hung his head. 

    There was nothing quite as grating and terrifying as Sendak’s victorious laughter ringing through the ear, and reverberating through his mind.

\--

     All Lance had now was Sendak’s laugh and a dark, closed-in room. He had to get out; his room felt too much like a cell, and all he could hear was Sendak’s laugh. He knew that it wasn’t possible, but he felt where the Galra had clenched his arms; he rolled up his sleeve in the hallway, holding his breath and looking for a bruise. There was nothing to be found. 

     Lance felt alone, tired, and afraid. He headed straight for the training room, hoping that Keith would help him like he had the precious nights.

     Instead he found the training room dark and empty; the silence was unnerving, the darkness terrifying. He had been hoping that the energy and lightness of the room could help him- and more than that, that there would be someone there. Even if it weren’t Keith, any one of the occupants of the castle would have been fine. 

     Lance palmed the door pad quickly, with trembling fingers. It was too quiet, too empty. Lance paced towards the bridge, hoping that there was something else he could do. Once he got there, he automatically pulled up the star map. Even if he couldn’t make anything out, even if he could never find Earth, Lance wanted to fill the room with  _ something _ . 

     Maybe he wouldn’t feel so alone.

     For a moment, he walked amongst the stars and planets, trying to lose himself. Instead, he found fragments of a song wafting through his mind, notes skirting the edge of his memory. Slowly, he raised his voice.

     “Strange how certain the journey… Time unfolds the petals for our eyes to see,” His voice was gentle, slightly above a whisper, but he sang it well. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, trying to remember.

     “Strange how this journey's hurting… In ways we accept as part of fate's decree.” He placed his hand over his heart, feeling every word. He remembered that his mother used to sing it on rainy days, how her voice would swell and recede like the waves, and how she loved to stand at the window and watch the droplets fall while she sang. Watching her was an ethereal experience; there was nothing as wonderful as hearing her sing, or as sad and soft as that particular song as it mingled with the pitter-patter of rain. 

     “So we just hold on fast, Acknowledge the past,” He sang, his voice getting a bit louder, reaching for the higher notes. 

     “As lessons exquisitely crafted, Painstakingly drafted,” and he could almost hear the piano as it swirled around the words, nearly enveloping them. The lavender he smelled was hers, her favorite, and he felt so at home.

     “To carve us as instruments, That play the music of life…” Louder still, combating the sound of the rain rather that getting swallowed in it…

     And the rest of the song flowed in his mind, as vividly as the memory. 

     “For we don't realize Our faith in the prize, Unless it's been somehow elusive- How swiftly we choose it.. The sacred simplicity, Of you at my side…” And he could remember his mother turning to him and sweeping him off of his feet, a swirl of skirts and childhood giggles as they danced to the last bit of the song. He smiled as his eyes filled with tears. 

     He missed it so much.

     But he didn’t feel so alone. He remembered his mother as clearly as ever, remembered how much she had loved to tell him stories of space princesses and how overjoyed he knew that she would be to see the real deal. While she may not have been there, he felt an overwhelming amount of pride for just being her son. The same heart that beat in her chest also beat in his; he remembered his father telling him that he had his mother’s courage, his grandmother telling him that he had her kindness, and his sister telling him that he had her humour.

     They may all be on Earth, but he was a part of them, and he would fight to his last breath to protect that.

     Lance went back to his room and knew that it felt less like a prison cell now than another iteration of his old room. 

     It was almost home, he thought, pulling up his picture on his tablet and leaving it on his bedside table. Their smiling faces was what he fell asleep to.

\--

     Lance woke up to the picture he had put near his bedside and a clear memory of the dream that had haunted him the past night and felt a pang of sadness, along with the breathless fear of having met Sendak again, even if only in his dream. He decided to ignore his thoughts on his dream completely, not feeling brave enough to face them at the moment. Besides, this early in the morning, he was reminded of how much he missed his family. How much he missed the sweet smell of breakfast in the morning, how he still sometimes reeled in the silence because he lived in the chaos of a large, energetic family. Bits of his mama’s melodical hum flitted through his mind, and he sighed, putting the picture back down on his desk. He was up at the normal time, and it was slightly disorienting. He went to the bathroom to go through his morning routine, hoping that some semblance of order would set the day straight. He had missed doing it the past couple of days, and he realized that he had missed his routine sorely; It was something to be done each and every day to begin the day in order. To face the day confidently. As such, he took his time, reveling in finally feeling as if he had some kind of control over his life again. He refused to think about the nightmare that had shaken him to his core; it was something that would have to wait until later. He had had one rest day, but Zarkon was not so kind to allow him two; He knew that there was no way they could get away with only minor battles for so long. After he finished with his routine, he slipped into his armour and marched himself to the training room, where all of the paladins were gathered. It seemed to be a one-on-one type of day, so he knew that he could start practicing whatever he felt he needed to practice. His automatic choice was easy; he remembered Keith saying that training would help keep his mind off of the nightmares, and how he had handed Lance the Altean pistol type weapon. Keith glanced over at Lance, and upon seeing his pick up the weapon they had been training with earlier, decided to stride over.

     “So you’re taking my suggestions to heart?” Keith said smugly. Lance nodded, then flicked the safety off, hoping that it looked as cool as he felt. He gave Keith his prize-winning smile, then turned to the targets that had already been set up. 

     “Steady your shot,” Keith murmured, and Lance knew that he was talking to himself, but it was good advice. He concentrated, took a breath, and took the shot.

Bullseye.

     Lance pulled the pistol up and rested it on his shoulder, finger safely off the trigger. He turned on the ball of his foot and winked at Keith. He could’ve sworn he saw pink flood into Keith’s cheeks before he turned and willfully stared at the target once more.

     “Alright, sharpshooter, that was one shot. I’m pretty sure that one shot does not a master make.”

     “Can-do, Samurai!” Lance called back, not even bothering to look at Keith. He bought the pistol back down and fired five more times, this time trying to be quicker with each shot. He frowned when he noticed that while his grouping was good, his aim had drifted off to the side. Keith raised an eyebrow, and Lance stuck his tongue out to him. Keith wandered off to work on his swordplay again, and Lance refocused on the targets. Before long, Coran called an end to training, deciding that it was time for lunch.

     However, he was cut off as the the castle alerted them of nearby Galra forces. They all rushed to get into their lions, and as Lance situated himself in the Blue Lion, he shivered slightly, remembering Sendak’s claws seizing him. Blue flared to life, and Lance felt the protectiveness cascade over him. 

_      None shall harm my little Blue cub _ , the lion conveyed to Lance. He smiled and reminded Blue that he would fight his best for her. He put his hand over the Altean pistol momentarily, but soon turned his attention to piloting Blue.They all launched quickly and fell into formation flawlessly, then started attacking the ships that were trying to flank them. The castle began firing as well, careful to hit any target that was not the Lions. 

     Lance only felt the Galra ship shoot at him; it seemed to have appeared out of thin air, and it had several others in tow. They too fired, and before Lance could stop them, they disabled his lion through sheer force. He cried out, and suddenly, everyone’s attention was turned to him. He was frozen for a moment, remembering pieces of his nightmare; His breath stuttered for a moment, fear of being captured choking him. He heard the others asking him if he was injured, and in all the chaos, all he could do was shake his head.

     Pidge was the first to arrive, incapacitating the ships with vines that bound them all together, before Keith arrived a moment later and cut them to ribbons with his jawblade. Keith left shortly after, entrusting Lance to Hunk, who appeared a minute later.

     “I’m going to tow you back to the castle, Lance,” Hunk said over the comms, and Lance simply nodded, then uttered a sigh. 

     “Pidge thinks that they upgraded their cloaking tech, so it’s not really your fault.” Hunk said. “That could’ve been anyone.”

     Lance winced at the idea of the others being hurt. He reached forward and placed his hand against one of Blue’s control panels and closed his eyes.

_      I’m sorry, Blue. My best isn’t exactly great, apparently. _

     The Blue Lion purred back at him.  _ Little paladin, that is nonsense. I have seen your potential, and you are a mighty warrior. Some battles are lost because we do not have all of the information we need. _

     Lance thought for a moment that it sounded more like an excuse, but he shook his head, knowing that it wasn’t true. He couldn’t have acted against an enemy that he didn’t know was there. Besides, his lion was not in the business of making excuses for him; Her voice guided him and taught him, and it was counter-intuitive to her goal to make up an excuse. Soon, he was safely back in his hangar, where Coran greeted him with a pat on the shoulder.

     “Don’t worry, I’ll have her up and working in no time,” Coran said cheerily. Lance thanked him, and walked back to the bridge, where Allura was paying close attention to the battle at hand, providing assistance where needed. Lance silently sat in one of the raised chairs, watching the fight unfold. He saw Pidge dart forward and tear out a vital piece of weaponry from on of the ships while Hunk guarded the space behind her. He turned his attention to where Keith and Shiro were working together to target as many of the enemy ships as they could; Keith would weave quickly, a deadly flash, easily disabling one after the other, while Shiro dealt with the stragglers. All in all, it was an efficient battle; for the most part, these were forces that they had dealt with before. When all the forces that could be seen were dealt with, only the large battle cruiser remained; all four of the functioning lions reconvened within the castle’s barrier to quickly devise a plan to rid them of the invisible forces. 

     Pidge’s video feed popped up on the castle’s screen, and both Lance and Alura leaned in intently to hear what Pidge had to say. 

     “Allura, I can disable them, I just need to get into the cruiser and copy the code and disable it,” pidge explained breathlessly. 

     “Why copy it?” Allura questioned. 

     “I can reverse engineer it so that we can detect them in the future. But I want Lance to come with me so that I have backup, and someone who can watch my back while I steal the code.” Lance leapt up, needing to hear no more. Allura nodded at him and called for him to be safe, and he turned slightly to acknowledge that he had heard her before he raced to his speeder, embarking quickly to board the Green Lion. He was there within a minute, and Pidge looked briefly up at him. 

     “Ready to go?” She asked, and Lance nodded eagerly, ready to help. She activated her Lion’s invisibility and directed her lion towards the main ship. 

     “Alright, Lance.” Pidge turned to face him. “Here’s the plan: We breach the ship and rush in. Green will raise her barrier, so no need to have anyone guard her. We’ll fight and sneak to the control room. It’ll take about ten minutes to get everything I need, and during that time, I’ll need you to guard my back. After I find and copy the program, I’ll disable everything attached to the ship, so getting out shouldn’t be incredibly hard. Got it?” 

     “Got it. Let’s go!” Pidge leaned forward and grinned, and Lance knew that she would stop at nothing to get the codes, and Lance grinned back. It was only a minute before they arrived, and Pidge tore a hole in the side of the ship. They hopped out, Pidge looking back after a second to make sure that the barrier had activated. Satisfied, she slid to the corner while Lance activated his shield and peeked around the corner. Nothing seemed to be there yet, so Lance plunged forward, Pidge following closely. 

     After a moment, they ran into sentries, but as there were only a few, Lance dispatched them neatly. Sentries were easy to kill; they were too predictable.

     The ease was not long-lived, however; a set of galra soldiers stood guard at the entrance to the control room. Lance waited a moment, then quickly lined up his shot.

     Deep breath in, Deep breath out… And shoot.

     The Galra toppled over, lifeless, and Lance suppressed a cheer threatening to escape from his lips. After all, the remaining Galra troop was closing in fast, and Lance only just had the time to stand up and draw his shield up to protect his body before the galra shot at him. It missed, but he felt his bayard go spinning away from him.

     After a moment of shock and withstanding bullets from his enemy, Lance reached down to his hip and snatched the pistol up. He took a short breath, then fired several times. Each shot hit his breastplate, and the Galra fell to the floor, no longer trying to kill them. 

     Lance straightened up and took a shaky sigh of relief, then nodded to Pidge, affirming that he was ready to move on. He grabbed his bayard and waited to see what she would do next. She shot forward, easily opening the door. A few shots rang out, and before Lance could even try to peek around the corner, Pidge projected footage from the room from her gauntlet. There were three Galra, each facing towards the door; each of them had the typical Galra gun. He looked over at Pidge, wondering if she had a plan. She seemed to be deep in thought.

     “Hey Pidge, how many shots are in those things?”

     “Um… I don’t know, maybe 20?”

     Lance grinned, having already come up with a plan. “I’m going to wait until their guns need to recharge or reload or whatever. Then we hit them. They’re not smart enough to stagger their shots, they never have before. My shield can take it. Wait until I start shooting, get your shield, charge in, and take as many down as you can.”

     Pidge grinned at him, obviously liking the plan. “Huh. I guess you do have something rattling around in there,” She said, rapping softly on his head. He stuck his tongue out in response. 

     He contemplated his plan for a moment, knowing that it could go wrong; but this was the only thing he had at the moment, so he summoned his shield and went for it. He stood in clear view in front of the door, and the Galra were rapidly taking shots at him, some finding their home in the wall behind him, some ricocheting off of his shield. The force behind multiple shots landing at once forced him backwards into the wall while he waited for a pause in their shots.

     It wasn’t long before he found what he was waiting for. He raised his bayard and fired, aiming at the Galra head-level so that he knew he wouldn’t hit Pidge. He downed two, and he saw the third go down at Pidge’s hands. The moved towards the panels, and Lance took a more defensive position behind them, noting that there were two doors. That would prove challenging. Even if Pidge locked them, the Galra would simply blow them up and still gain access. Lance looked around for something to at least partially block one of the doors, but nothing was movable.

     “Well, shit,” Lance murmured. Pidge looked up momentarily, but she soon saw what he was frustrated over.

     “I’ll lock them, but they’re just going to breach. At least it’ll take them a moment,” Pidge said. The doors turned red shortly after, and Pidge began to copy the data.

     The sound of projectiles hitting the door rang in the room, and Pidge glanced over at Lance, her expression worried. “They can’t take out this console or our objective is ruined,” She said, before it made a sound and she turned her attention back to it. Lance sighed, knowing that she was right. 

     The left door gave first, flying halfway across the room. Lance jumped in his skin, then refocused his attention. The door was serving as a choke point, one of the only things working for them at the moment, and Lance shot rapidly, taking down a few Galra. He ducked back behind the console, knowing that if he stayed up too long, he would get injured. He heard the shots pound against multiple surfaces, and Pidge sucked in a breath nervously, double checking that all systems were still working. He heard her relief when she found everything functional. 

     He popped back up and took a few more shots, downing more soldiers. That was when he heard the other door buckle and saw it fly across the room. He swiveled back to the right, suddenly thankful that the room was so large; He would have time to fire at anyone who could approach. He fired at the right, only taking two soldiers; the others that had tried to file in had leapt backwards into cover.

     Lance heard a cry and felt a dull pain as something came down on his head, trying to breach his helmet and harm him. A galra had flanked them, coming from the left while he had been distracted. One body lay not too far away, one that Pidge had taken. He grabbed his pistol and took the soldier down easily enough.

     “Hey Pidge, nearly done? It’s getting a little hairy here,” Lance called. 

     “Nearly there!” She said. “It’s copied, working on taking down systems now!”

     Lance stood up and fired upon the flow of soldiers, swiveling his fire to try to take out as many as he could. A decent number fell, but there were still more, over half of them sentries.

     Lance ducked down and sucked in a breath, ignoring the headache that was pounding in his head from the hit he had taken. He was lucky that it had not been a concussion. When he popped back up, all but the backup lights shut down, and all of the sentry bots that had formed a shield to the few galra left crumpled to the ground in unison. Lance targeted the last few efficiently, and both Lance and Pidge took a moment to breathe before Pidge started moving. She tucked the chip she had put all the info on into her gauntlet safely, and Lance raised his bayard and shield, moving towards the right door again. They wound their way quietly through the hallways, darting around the few remaining Galra sneakily. Neither of them wanted to confront and gather more enemies in such an undefendable location. 

     It took them ten minutes to get back to the Green Lion, and when they finally climbed back into her, relatively unharmed, Lance let out a cheer.

     “Did all go well?” Allura asked anxiously. 

     “I got it all and took down their systems!” Pidge said victoriously.

     “Engaging remaining ships,” Shiro said.

     “Anyone hurt?” Hunk asked. 

     “Nah, I’ve only got a bit of a headache,” Lance said. “One of them tried to knock me out, but my helmet saved me.” He looked down to where it sat in the crook of his arm and patted the small dent. 

     It was only seven minutes later that everyone reconvened at the castle and Allura wormholed them safely away. The battle had been won. Pidge and Hunk once again left to go study the code from the ship, briefly followed by a curious Coran, while Lance joined the rest of the crew, who were discussing the battle.

     Lance told them about how the battle had gone, and Shiro shook his head in wonder. “It got a bit dangerous back there,” he said sadly. 

     “Well, we did get out with only a headache,” Lance said. 

     “I’m glad I taught you about the pistol,” Keith said, laughing with relief. 

     “You really did save my ass back there,” Lance admitted. Keith smiled at him.

     “I think all of you have earned some relaxation,” Allura said with a smile. “The Galra won’t find us out here. There’s no reason for them to suspect where we are.”

     With that, Keith, Shiro, and Lance walked to the rec room, where Keith decided that they should keep watching Star Wars. 

     It wasn’t too bad a day, Lance decided. 


	4. Chapter 4

     Sendak’s claws were sharper than razors, and they sliced through his skin all too easily. It hurts to move. 

     It hurt to even breathe. 

     “I see you’re trying to scurry away, little pest. I wouldn’t worry, you are quite secure.” With his statement, Sendak pushed his claws further into Lance. He couldn’t help but cry out in pain as Sendak laughed, gloating at his victory. 

     Lance struggled as his vision swam, feeling the immense pain from the blades of Sendak’s claws slicing into his chest, and how his chest burned because of how they restricted his breathing. All he dared hope for at this point was the ability to breathe properly- but, as he quickly found, even that was far too out of reach.

     “But humans are much too fragile,” Sendak sneered. Lance felt the pressure on his chest lighten slightly, and he gasped in air. For a moment- a brief, hilarious, shock-affected moment- Lance was reminded of the striking similarity between Sendak and a cat, toying with their prey until they had had their fill. 

     When he had enough air to chance it, Lance screamed out for Blue again. The response tasted ashen on his mouth as it settled in the air: Silence. 

     Lance felt himself being moved, gasping as the claws agitated the wounds even more. He felt much too faint to even lift his head for a few moments as stars danced in his sight and the darkness crept into his peripherals. 

     Sendak was too vicious and clever to just let Lance fall unconscious, however. He fell still, making sure that his claws had not yet pierced anything vital. Sendak gave Lance his toothiest grin when he did finally lift his head, displaying the brutally sharp teeth that lined his mouth, his weapon of absolute choice. Legions had fallen to the canines of the brutish general; Countless more would doubtless fall victim to their primitive attack. 

     Lance wondered if perhaps it was some sort of sign that he could see his reflection in the glinting canines. He wondered for a moment if the Galra even spread the larger-than-life dramatics about their warriors or their king.

     “I have not yet demonstrated the extent of my victory yet, little rat,” Sendak said, savouring every word. As he started moving forward, the bots fell into step behind him. “Fear not little paladin, I will not be doing away with you after this either. You may well become rather amusing entertainment if you have the same spark as the Champion. If not, the druids have always… appreciated new material.” 

     As Sendak turned the corner, Lance had to keep himself from gagging at the scene. Figures milled around in purple glowing transportation containers, and the bottom of the containers displayed prone forms, presumably in various forms of ‘alive’. Overall, there were six containers, all arranged into a circle in the destroyed plaza of his home city. It was cruelly efficient in the true style of the Galra; they would drive the humans towards the plaza, and all the humans could do was retreat or die.

     As it was, too much blood flooded the streets, giving the pavers a deathly sheen, on which the Galra continued to tread efficiently. 

     “But….” Sendak purred, clearly enjoying himself in the brutal environment, “I have something better. Only the best must be presented to guests of honour. I cannot begin to express just how much work we did to bring you this wonderful present, little rat.” Sendak said, laughing lightly. He dragged Lance over to one of the light prisons. The prisoners inside, those still aware, started pounding on the surface, which drew Lance’s eye immediately. Their faces frightened him; they sported both the anger that accompanied the dulled yelling he heard or the fear that he knew was well matched with the sobbing hopelessness.

     It wasn’t until Lance’s eyes slid down that he completely stilled. He felt as if every ounce of his life had drained away within a span of a few milliseconds.  

     For on the floor of the alien containment prison sat his little sister, bruised and bloody, beaten and battered… and impossibly still upon the floor. He could not tell if her form was completely still or if his perception was fooling him, or even if it was just the sheer amount of bodies packed into the prison. He struggled against Sendak’s claws, completely uncaring of the fact that his movement would just cause more damage, he had to get to her, he had to protect her, he had to..

     He poured every last ounce of his energy and breath into the most heart-wrenching scream he could ever muster, a scream lost to the sheer cacophony of the massacre.

\---

     “LANCE!”

     Lance snapped awake with a loud gasp, and he tried to suck in as much air he could hold after being deprived for so long. He was restrained, and he could see things but he could not process them clearly- He began thrashing violently, reminded of Sendak’s grip, of having to fight-

     “Lance, Lance! Calm down, buddy, you’re safe, you’re safe. You’re in the castle, it’s Shiro, and you’re okay.”

     After a moment, it finally registered to Lance that it was Shiro restraining him, and instead of the nightmarish burnt red scene, Lance was instead in his room. When he stopped fighting Shiro, the other paladin immediately launched into calming Lance’s breath. After what seemed like a lifetime, Shiro finally fell quiet and moved himself to where his back was against the wall on Lance’s bed.

     When Lance scanned the room, a familiar splash of red and yellow adorned his wall. Keith stood by the door frame, looking much smaller than Lance was used to with his arms wrapped around his body and his shoulders hunched.

     “We heard you scream,” Shiro stated softly, and Lance knew that there was sympathy in those words. Lance remained silent, willing himself to think of anything but what he had just seen and restraining himself from running straight to Blue’s hangar and leaving for Earth, even though he had no idea which direction it was even in. When he looked down, he saw that while he had been asleep, his nails had left little blood trails along his arm. Though he knew that his chest wasn’t physically injured, it certainly felt as if there was still a weight pressing down on his lungs, making it difficult for him to breathe.

     “Lance?”

     “....Yeah.” 

     “Are you okay?” The concern from the three simple words matched the concern in Shiro’s entire stature. 

     “I don’t know.” The words themselves sent a spike of fear through his chest; He had thought them commonly enough, but had never said them aloud. Part of Lance wished that he were alone so that he could freely express the emotions in whatever ugly ways they chose to manifest, but he knew that this was better for him. The loneliness was always suffocating, and being alone would have given him more pause as to whether or not the nightmare had been real or not. As it stood, it was certainly a nightmare, but none the less terrifying for that.

     “Are you okay with physical contact?” Shiro placed his hands on his lap, palms upwards. Lance thought for a moment, pushing away the feeling of Sendak’s claws digging deeper into his ribcage with a shiver. Shiro started to pull his hands back before Lance nodded a bit.

     Shiro moved forward slowly and cautiously before he wrapped Lance in a hug. Lance’s breath hitched for a moment before he forced himself to push his nightmare back, and he began to feel safe. Shiro stayed for a moment longer before pulling back and looking Lance in the eye.

     “I need you to try to get some sleep, okay? Keith told me that you haven’t been sleeping properly at all. I’m going up to the bridge, so if anything at all comes up, please come and get me.”

     Shiro stood up off of Lance’s bed and looked back at him again. 

     “We’re here for us, whenever you need. All of us.”

     And with that, Shiro exited the room. 

     Keith took a shaky breath and stood up properly from where he was leaning on the wall. 

     “I…. Well, look…..” He struggled to put his thoughts into word before getting frustrated and letting the sentence drop cold. 

     “I’m sorry.” Lance said softly, contemplating the scratches on his arms.

     “I- Wait, no, That’s not a thing, you can’t apologize for nightmares!” Keith sputtered, flustered. “They’re just a thing that happens. To all of us. I get them too.”

     “You don’t wake half the castle up screaming,” Lance spat, but there was no real venom to the words.

     Keith gave him a knowing look and in response, Lance just bit his tongue.

     “I’ve kept Shiro up far more often than I’d like to admit,” Keith admitted begrudgingly. “Although I guess he can’t sleep well as much anyways…”

     Keith looked away pointedly, trying to avoid Lance’s gaze. His expression was the same painful reminiscing as it had been nights ago when he had talked to Lance nostalgically about their Garrison days. 

     Lance moved himself over to the foot of his bed and patted the empty space beside him. “You look like you’re about to fall over, Keith. Sit down.” Keith took a step, stopped to consider for a second, and moved forward again, having made up his mind. He sat gently beside Lance. 

     “I woke you up, didn’t I?” Lance asked, already knowing the answer.

     Keith looked at Lance for a moment before responding. “...Kinda.”

     “There’s no ‘kinda’ about it. Shiro wouldn’t have known otherwise.”

     “I. Yeah, that’s true.” He stopped for a moment, seeming to consider something. “I tried to wake you up when you were crying. You really scared me, because you were scratching at your chest and it sounded like you were having a hard time breathing. I tried everything to get you up, but nothing was working. I didn’t know what to do besides to go get Shiro. He made sure there wasn’t anything physical, but then you started thrashing and hurting yourself…” Keith dropped off and took a deep breath, gazing intensely at a wrinkle in Lance’s blanket. 

     “I’m sorry,” Lance said. He could say no more.

     “You apologize too much. There’s nothing to be sorry for, Lance. You didn’t exactly will yourself to have a nightmare.”

     “But here you are, awake and upset. And Shiro is definitely still awake somewhere. I probably scared the both of you half to death,” Lance said, his voice quavering slightly near the end of his sentence. 

     Lance shivered a bit, the memory of Sendak’s razor claws holding him in place. He shook his head a bit, trying to push back the idea of the galra massacre. Of his sister’s face right before…

     Keith pulled Lance into a tight hug, and Lance gasped. It was as if Keith had pulled him from his thoughts- such an unexpected action left him in the here and now.

     “We won’t let them get to Earth,” Keith said. Lance wondered for a brief moment if Keith had nightmares similar to his own or if Lance was just that predictable. He tossed the thought aside after a moment. 

     “What if we don’t get there in time? What if…” Lance did not need to finish his sentence. Tears fell from his eyes, but he made no motion to wipe them away. Keith moved back a few inches to look Lance in the face, determined eyes staring right at him.

     “We’re not going to let them win. None of us will. Allura won’t let what happened ten thousand years ago happen again.”

     Lance looked back at Keith, a bit of desperation leaking into his voice. “I can’t let them hurt my family,” He said breathlessly. 

     “We won’t let them,” Keith repeated. “Not a chance in the entire universe.”

     “...I’m sorry,” Lance said, hastily drying his tears. Keith pulled him back into an embrace, and Lance lay his head on Keith’s shoulder. 

     “Mm, well, at least we have a giant Transformer to fight the purple alien cats,” Keith said with a smile.

     Lance looked at him, bewildered. Keith was never funny before. 

     “Hey dork, it was a joke,” Keith said, obviously worried that Lance had taken him seriously. 

     “Maybe Hunk was right. Galra Keith is way more funny than normal old edgy human Keith.”

     Keith sputtered indignantly. “What- I didn’t just turn Galra! I’ve always been funny,” He said with a pout. “And besides, I’m not edgy.”

     Lance burst out laughing. “Come on dude, you’ve got to see it. You are SO edgy!!” 

     Keith pouted, but his lack of sleep seemed to be affecting him, as his eyes were having trouble staying open.

     “Keith, you should probably go to bed. You look exhausted.”

     Keith opened his eyes again, focused on Lance. “I’m not leaving you alone. What if you have another nightmare?”

     Lance was taken aback, never expecting to hear that from Keith. “You’re really not going to leave?”

     “Nope.”

     “Fine then. I obviously can’t stop you. But where are you going to sleep?”

     Keith looked up at his mischievously before letting his eyelids droop and flopping over into Lance’s bed. “Here,” he mumbled. Lance let out an indignant yelp, and his voice rose several volumes when he said, “But where am I going to sleep??”

     “‘S not my problem,” Keith said sleepily. Lance was in a near state of disbelief- Keith was already almost asleep on his bed. This was the last thing he could have ever expected of the night.

     “This is my bed and I’m going to sleep in it!” he said, determination building up. Before he could do anything else, he heard a snore.

     Was he serious? Had he actually fallen asleep on Lance’s bed? Lance leaned over carefully to watch Keith for a moment and realized that yes, he had in fact already fallen asleep.

     Lance stood up off his bed and looked around for a moment. The light seemed too bright at the moment, and he was exhausted from the continuous nightmares. He considered cleaning up, at least a little, but decided instead to simply turn out the light. He made his way back to his bed and lay down between the wall and Keith. It was nerve wracking at first- was Keith going to get mad about this?- but after a while, he started feeling much too tired to really think too much about it. It was nice; the warmth allowed him to feel even more relaxed, and Keith’s quiet snore filled in the silence. After a while, Keith snaked his arm around Lance, and though it nearly made him jump, it did feel nice. Keith pulled him closer, and Lance reveled in the feeling.

     As Lance closed his eyes, he was reminded that he hadn’t felt so comfortable since he had been home. It stung less than thinking of home originally did, but Keith’s promise cast a more gentle light on his thoughts. 

     He fell asleep with a smile on his face, and slept soundly through the night.

\--

     Lance woke up wrapped in Keith’s arms, and for a moment, he was completely shocked. It took a moment to remember why Keith was even in his room, but when it did come back to him, Lance lay his head back on his pillow.

     It was odd, but being held and being so close to Keith… was nice. Unexpectedly nice. Lance refused to move around more, hoping that Keith would continue to sleep. He seemed to stay as such.

     Lance reached to the side of his bed carefully, trying to find the data pad that he had discarded there earlier. When he finally found it and turned it on, he was surprised by the time. It was noon, and Lance never slept in so late.

     Well, he reflected, he hadn’t exactly been sleeping properly. But now he felt well-rested and ready to face the day. 

     “Mmm, stop moving,” Keith mumbled sleepily. Lance grinned, and turned to face Keith.

     “You know, we eventually have to get up,” Lance said, watching Keith’s face turn from peaceful to a sleepy annoyance. Lance laughed lightly, and Keith pulled the blanket over his head.

     “‘Nother hour,” he said, which Lance heard only faintly through the blanket.

     Right on cue, Lance heard a knock on his door. 

     “It’s about time to get up,” Shiro called through the door.

      “We’ll be there in a second,” Lance called back, Poking vaguely where he thought Keith’s head was somewhere under the covers. Keith groaned and emerged from the blanket, his hair completely astray, and Lance muffled a laugh.

     Keith blew a bit of his hair out of his mouth and glared at Lance. “How are you so happy after you wake up. That’s not a thing.”

     “Sure it is,” Lance said. “I feel great!”

     “Ugh, don’t rub it in,” Keith said, then yawned and stretched out. Both of them took their time getting ready, until Keith had to go get his armour from his room. Part of Lance wanted to follow Keith and net let him out of his sight, but he pushed it aside. 

     “I’m going to go ahead and go to lunch,” Lance told him. Keith just nodded, still a bit disgruntled from waking up. 

     Lance got to the dining hall within three minutes, and was greeted with the lighthearted chatter of his team. Shiro looked up at him, meeting him with a smile when he saw Lance looking cheery. 

     “I’m going to guess that you got enough sleep, right?”

     “Thank you,” Lance said, giving Shiro a hug. Pidge was buzzing over her newest discovery and Hunk was testing some new foods, so the others were occupied well enough. Keith walked in, still slightly disgruntled. 

     Lunch proceeded happily, and afterwards, Allura allowed them to take a break before their next training session.

     All of the paladins convened in the rec room, and after a moment of discussion over what they should do with their free time, Keith demanded to watch more Star Wars. 

     “Hey Han Solo, why the adamant insistence on Star Wars?” Lance said, an eyebrow cocked in curiosity. Keith hesitated for a moment before speaking.

     “Well… I never saw them before you watched them with me,” Keith said, his cheeks becoming pink. Lance’s mouth dropped open for a moment, and Pidge burst out laughing. 

     “I guess we have something to do now,” Shiro mused, and Pidge laughed even harder.

     “How… Have you never seen Star Wars!?” Lance said loudly, and Keith stuck his tongue out at him. 

     “Well, movies call for snacks,” Hunk said, then left, supposedly to hunt for said snacks. Pidge hooked up the setup (Keith watched intently, probably trying to learn how to properly do it.) 

     After a while, everyone was back, and the movie was ready to start. The paladins crowded themselves onto the couches and keenly watched the movie.

-

     Allura stopped in the doorframe. None of the paladins had noticed her enter; all of them were focused on the movie that was dancing across the screen. In brilliant flashes, it illuminated the people on the couch. They were all on one couch, all of them huddled into each other. Pidge appeared to be asleep, splayed across the couch, and Keith’s head was laying on Lance’s shoulder, with Lance’s head on top of Kieth’s. All of them looked content and happy.

     She watched them for a moment before deciding that there was no way she could disturb them while they were like that. The war did not afford them much time to enjoy little things, and she would not take that precious little time from any of them.

     Allura left with a soft smile on her face, glad to see them all so close and untroubled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was such a joy to write this, and I hope you enjoyed it! Tempests and Lighthouses was my first chapter fic. Thanks for sticking with it until the end <3

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in the works since January, and what was supposed to be a 1k word fic... turned into a 13k fic. Big thanks to ElementKitsune for helping me with a title and pushing me to stop procrastinating, and to Rona1776 for her continued support... since January (SORRY ABOUT THAT!)  
> So please enjoy the angst and fluff that I loved writing!!


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